YARMOUTH - Nova Star Cruises has announced an alliance with a Bedford-based company to handle the reservation service for the Nova Star ferry.

The Nova Star

Nova Star Cruises announced on Wednesday that Intergy Applied Hospitality Solutions, which operates an on-line booking engine and bilingual reservation centre in eastern Canada, will serve as the reservation centre hub for Nova Star Cruises.

Although employees at the centre in Bedford will be available to handle any overflow reservations traffic, the president and chief operating officer of Intergy says the intention is to hire people from Yarmouth who will work out of a reservation centre based in Yarmouth. At minimum, says Clarke Squires of Intergy, they expected to start out with six to eight employees in Yarmouth.

‚ÄúThey‚Äôll be trained so they can do everything,‚ÄĚ he says, ‚ÄúNot just ferry reservations, but we‚Äôll be training them so they could book a hotel if someone needed a hotel if they‚Äôre traveling across on the ferry and they want to stay somewhere in Nova Scotia.‚ÄĚ

This also includes the Nova Star Discovery Program, which is a destination marketing program that has been set up to provide value-added tour packages for ferry travelers.

Although the ferry is important to the Yarmouth area, the ferry service will provide economic stimulus to the entire province. The Nova Star Discovery Program enables guests to combine their ferry passage with shore-based hotels and excursions to further enhance their vacation in Nova Scotia.

‚ÄúSo we‚Äôll be cross training. This will, I believe, be a tremendous opportunity for people in Yarmouth," says Squires. "They will become true hospitality reservationists to provide reservations on the ferry, but also to book those things that people on the ferry would be able to do and see and experience in Nova Scotia.‚ÄĚ

As for when reservations can begin for the Nova Star ferry service, that is still being worked out.